Auto sensing home base station for mobile telephone with remote answering capabilities

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses in one embodiment a mobile telephone capable of communicating with a home base station through radio signals. The mobile telephone registers with a home base station before beginning to communicate with the home base station. The home base station is capable of sensing the presence of the mobile telephone in its coverage area and subsequently establishing contact with the mobile telephone, if the mobile telephone is registered with the home base station. The home base station can support a plurality of telephone devices, including corded and cordless telephone devices, and provides call placement and answering services to these telephone devices if there is a registered mobile telephone within its coverage area.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to telephonic communications and moreparticularly relates to wireless communications via a home base station.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile and satellite telephones have gained popularity in recent yearsin all walks of life. Mobile telephones are not only popular withexecutives in busy metropolitan areas, but are also popular in sparselypopulated areas where the cost, per user, of laying down theinfrastructure for traditional wireline telephones is high. Also, peoplewho move their residence from one geographic location to another arebeginning to use their mobile telephone number as their residencetelephone number to avoid having to notify people of telephone numberchanges. Significantly lower mobile telephone prices in recent years hasalso prompted many telecommunication users to use a mobile telephone astheir primary residential telephone in lieu of the traditional wirelinetelephone.

Typical mobile telephone (MT) systems are characterized by dividing aradio coverage area into several smaller coverage areas or “cells” usinglow power transmitters and coverage-restricted receivers. As shown inU.S. Pat. Nos. 3,906,166 and 4,268,722, which are incorporated byreference herein, the limited coverage area enables the radio channelsused in one cell to be reused in another cell. As a mobile telephone inone cell moves across the boundary of the cell and into an adjacentcell, control circuitry associated with the cells detects that thesignal strength of the mobile telephone in the just-entered cell isstronger, and communications with the mobile telephone are “handed off”to the just-entered cell. Thus, a system can supply two-waycommunications for an array of cells, thereby supplying communicationsfor a much wider area than conventional two-way radios.

The terms, mobile telephone, cellular telephone, and radiotelephone areused interchangeably in this application, and they encompasscommunication devices that use radio signals for communication. Theradio signals may be in the spectrum traditionally known as cellularband or PCS (personal communication system) band. The radio signals alsomay be in any other spectrum assigned for mobile communications. Besidesland-based systems, a satellite based communications system also hasgained popularity. In the satellite based system, satellite receivessignal from satellite telephone network and beams call to satellitetelephone. Relatively new, but as prices of these satellite telephonescome down, many telecommunication users will begin to use the satellitetelephone as their primary residential telephone.

Generally, mobile telephones provide an individual with flexibility, butcreate an unforeseen problem when used as the primary residentialtelephone. Traditionally in a residential setting, there are manytelephone extensions throughout a user's house. When an incoming callarrives, it rings all the telephone devices connected to the line, andthe user can answer the call from any extension.

However, when the mobile telephone is the primary and only telephone inthe house, the user must carry the mobile telephone all the time toanswer it promptly or run to the mobile telephone every time it rings.Another problem with using a mobile telephone as the primary telephonein any location is that only one person can listen to the conversation.Normally, if there is more than one telephone device connected to atelephone line, there can be one person per telephone device listeningand talking to a caller on the other end of the telephone connection. Amobile telephone provides only one device for listening and talking tothe other caller. Clearly, it is inconvenient not to allow more than oneperson to listen to a telephone conversation, and it is even moreundesirable to run through the house searching for the mobile telephoneevery time an incoming call arrives.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention allows individuals who do not have direct accessto a PSTN to communicate and receive communication at their homes,offices, or other locations in a convenient manner through use of theirmobile telephones. More particularly, a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention employs a home base station (HBS) that is capable ofsensing the presence of mobile telephones and communicating with mobiletelephones. The home base station is in communication with a pluralityof telephone devices, such as conventional corded telephone devices orcordless telephone devices or devices specially designed for use withthe home base station. The methodology of the present invention definescommunications between a mobile telephone and a home base station.Additionally, the present invention allows a telephone device tocommunicate through a mobile telephone.

The HBS has a mobile telephone interface unit (MTIU) connected to atransceiver, a controller, a mobile telephone registration unit (RRU), alocal telephone interface unit (LTIU), which is connected to a cordedtelephone interface unit (CTIU) and a cordless telephone interface unit(CLTIU). According to the present invention, a mobile telephone isequipped with a HBS interface unit and capable of receiving andtransmitting radio signals to and from the HBS. The home base stationuses radio signals of a frequency different from the frequency used bythe systems. The communications between the HBS and the mobile telephoneutilize a communication protocol, and, in a preferred embodiment, thecommunications between the HBS and a mobile telephone utilizes theBluetooth protocol.

A user first registers his mobile telephone with a HBS. Subsequently,the HBS is capable of sensing the presence of the registered mobiletelephone. The RRU registers the mobile telephone by storing itsinformation in a memory. When the HBS detects the signals of a mobiletelephone, it compares the signals with the information stored by theRRU, and if they match, the HBS starts to communicate with the mobiletelephone.

After sensing that a registered mobile telephone is within its coveragearea, the HBS communicates with the mobile telephone and sends itsinformation to the mobile telephone. The HBS also enables dial tones tothe telephone devices, which are associated with it.

If the user picks up a telephone device located in his bedroom, he willget a dial tone and can then dial a destination number. The HBS receivesthe dialed telephone number and requests that the mobile telephone makea connection to the dialed number. The mobile telephone makes a requestfor a telephonic connection to the dialed number as if the dialed numberwas entered from its own keypad. After the connection is made, the usercan talk on his telephone device as if the connection was made throughthe telephone device.

When the mobile telephone receives an incoming call, the mobiletelephone will pass the information to the HBS, and the HBS will sendthe ringing tone to all telephone devices connected to the HBS. The usercan answer the call from any telephone device connected to the HBSincluding the mobile telephone.

If the user takes the mobile telephone and leaves the HBS′ coveragearea, the HBS will sense that the radio signals from the mobiletelephone are fading, and subsequently the HBS will cease to providedial tones to the telephone devices connected to it.

The HBS is also capable of providing privacy to the user using themobile telephone or a telephone device to place or to receive a call.The user may activate the privacy feature by sending a message from themobile telephone or the telephone device to the HBS, and the HBS willblock other telephone devices from listening into the call.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other aspects and advantages of the inventiondescribed herein will be better understood from the following detaileddescription of one or more preferred embodiments of the invention withreference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts the architecture of a telephone system where the presentinvention is employed.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary architecture of a home base station (HBS)according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary architecture of a mobile telephone accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a HBS process for registering a mobile telephone.

FIG. 5 depicts a mobile telephone process for registering with a HBS.

FIG. 6 depicts a HBS process for establishing a connection with a mobiletelephone.

FIG. 7 depicts a mobile telephone process for establishing a connectionwith a HBS.

FIG. 8 depicts a HBS process for receiving an incoming call.

FIG. 9 depicts a mobile telephone process for receiving an incomingcall.

FIG. 10 depicts a HBS process for making an outgoing call.

FIG. 11 depicts a mobile telephone process for making an outgoing call.

FIG. 12 depicts a HBS process for handling a privacy request.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention(s) that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents; some steps of a process may not need to be the exactsequence as shown. Therefore, specific structural, functional details,and process steps disclosed herein are not to be interpreted aslimiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representativebasis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ thepresent invention.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawings, in which like numeralsrepresent like components throughout several views, FIG. 1 illustratesemployment of a system according to the present invention in atelecommunication environment 100. A home base station (HBS) 104according to the present invention is generally employed in a user'shome or office 102. The HBS 104 may support one or multiple telephonedevices, either corded telephone devices 108 or cordless telephonedevices 106 or a combination of corded and cordless telephone devices.The HBS 104 communicates with a wireless telephone network through amobile telephone 110.

In this application a telephone device may be a traditional telephonedevice, either corded or cordless, used with a landline telephonenetwork or the PSTN or may be a device specially designed to operatewith the HBS. The telephone device may or may not have all the featurescommonly seen on a traditional telephone device.

According to the present invention, the mobile telephone 110 is capableof communicating with the HBS 104 through radio signals. In onepreferred embodiment, the communication between the HBS 104 and themobile telephone 110 follows a standard wireless protocol such as theBluetooth protocol. Other communications protocols may also be employed.

In the diagram shown in FIG. 1, a user (not shown) can use a telephonedevice 106 to place a call to a mobile telephone 110′. The call isrouted through the HBS 104, the mobile telephone 110, an antenna 112 ofa wireless network, and a base station 114 to reach a mobile switchingcenter (MSC) 116, where the call is processed. After analyzing thedialed number, the MSC 116 routes the call through another base station114′ and another antenna 112′ to reach the called mobile telephone 110′.

The user can also receive a call initiated by a party using a wirelinetelephone 108′ connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)118. The call is switched through the PSTN 118 and the wireless networkto reach the mobile telephone 110 and finally answered by the user onthe telephone device 108 connected to the HBS 104.

FIG. 2 depicts the architecture of one embodiment of a home base station104. Generally, a HBS 104 has the following functional components: acontroller 208, a mobile telephone registration unit (RRU) 214, a mobiletelephone interface unit (MTIU) 204, a transceiver 202, a localtelephone interface unit (LTIU) 206, a corded telephone interface unit(CTIU) 210, a cordless telephone interface unit (CLTIU) 212, and aprivacy unit 216. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatfunctional components other than those listed above may provide similaror equivalent functions.

The HBS 104 communicates with both mobile telephones and telephonedevices. The HBS 104 communicates with one or more mobile telephones 110through the MTIU 204 and the transceiver 202. The transceiver 202 iscapable of modulating and demodulating radio signals, besidestransmitting and receiving the same radio signals. The MTIU 204 isresponsible for communicating with the mobile telephones 110, and thecommunication between the HBS and the mobile telephones can follow theBluetooth standard or other radio communication standards.

The HBS 104 communicates with telephone devices, corded 108 or cordless106, through the LTIU 206. The interface to a corded telephone device108 is through the CTIU 210, and the interface to a cordless telephonedevice 106 is through the CLITU 212. The LTIU 206 is capable ofdetecting when a telephone device is off hook and providing a dial toneto the telephone device. If the telephone device is a cordless telephonedevice 106, the actual tone is provided by the cordless handset underinstruction from the HBS 104.

The RRU 214 is responsible for registering mobile telephones. In apreferred embodiment, the HBS 104 may register more than one mobiletelephone 110. The HBS may also include a registration button (notshown), which allows a user to register the mobile telephone with theHBS upon pressing the registration button. The registration button mayalso be displayed on a user interface screen on the HBS. The RRU 214stores the telephone number and the corresponding electronicidentification number (EIN) of each mobile telephone 110. These numbersare received from the mobile telephone 110 during the registrationprocedure and used during the connection procedure. The RRU 214 alsoprovides the telephone number to the LTIU 206, so it can be displayed bya corded telephone device 108 or a cordless telephone device 106, when acall is received. The telephone number identifies which mobile telephone110 received the incoming call when the HBS 104 supports multiple mobiletelephones 110.

The controller 208 oversees all the operations performed by the HBS 104.The controller 208 works with the MTIU 204 to detect the presence of amobile telephone 110 and with the RRU 214 to register a mobile telephone110. The controller 208 also controls the telephone devices through LTIU206.

The privacy unit 216 enables the HBS 104 to provide privacy to atelephone device or a mobile telephone that the user is using tocommunicate with a remote party. If the user desires privacy whileplacing or responding to a telephone call, the user can instruct thetelephone device or the mobile telephone to send a privacy request tothe HBS 104. When a privacy request is received, the privacy unit 216determines its originating device, i.e., whether the request is from amobile telephone or a telephone device. If the privacy request is fromthe mobile telephone, the privacy unit 216 will disable the audiocommunication to the telephone devices, and a third party, who picks upa telephone device, will not be able to listen to the communication. Ifthe privacy request is from a telephone device, the privacy unit 216will disable the audio communication to other telephone devices andinstruct the mobile telephone to disable its audio input and outputdevices by sending a privacy request to the mobile telephone. The mobiletelephone in this situation acts only as a transmitting device to theHBS.

The privacy request may be communicated from a telephone device or amobile telephone to the HBS by pressing a special privacy button, if oneis available, or a special sequence of existing buttons. The specialsequence of buttons is interpreted by the HBS as a special instructionto itself, instead of a command to be transmitted to a remote party.Those skilled in the art will appreciate other ways to communicate theprivacy request.

In an alternative embodiment, the HBS 104 can provide the functionalityof an intercom system. The HBS 104 can support one telephone deviceconnected to the HBS calling another telephone device connected to thesame HBS 104. The LTIU 206 sequentially numbers the actual telephoneconnections supported by the CTIU 210 and the CLTIU 212 besidesassigning a number to the mobile telephone. For example, if the HBS 104has four connections for a corded telephone device and one connectionfor a cordless telephone device, the LTIU 206 could assign 0 to themobile telephone, 1 to the cordless telephone device, and 2-5 to thecorded telephone devices. A user on the corded telephone 4 may dial “*1”to ring the bell of the cordless telephone, and, if a part answers atthe cordless telephone, they will be connected through the HBS 104.

In yet another embodiment, the HBS 104 may be equipped with a userinterface screen, when different messages can be displayed and inputstaken from the user. The interface screen may be a touch screen, wherethe user may input commands or settings to the HBS. The interface screenwould be connected to a user interface unit (not shown in FIG. 2), whichis connected to the controller 208.

FIG. 3 illustrates the architecture of a mobile telephone 110 accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. In addition to all thenormal capabilities of a mobile telephone, the mobile telephone 110according to the present invention also has the capability tocommunicate through different radio signals to the HBS 104. Thecommunications with the HBS 104 is through frequencies different thanthose allocated for cellular systems and personal communications systems(PCS). One example of such frequencies is the industrial, scientific,and medical (ISM) spectrum, which is in the range of 2.4 GHz. Thecommunications protocol may be proprietary or may follow an industrystandard, such as the Bluetooth protocol.

A mobile telephone 110 typically has a controller 314, a transceiver302, a display unit 304, an audio input unit 306, an audio output unit308, a keypad unit 310, a HBS interface unit 312, and a storage unit316. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that functional componentsother than those listed above may provide similar or equivalentfunctions.

The mobile telephone 110 performs its ordinary functions ofcommunicating with a wireless network through the controller 314, thetransceiver 302, the display unit 304, the audio input unit 306, theaudio output unit 308, the keypad unit 310, and the storage unit 316.The audio output unit 308 can support an earpiece speaker, which allowsthe user a hands free conversation while driving an automobile, and aspeaker. The transceiver 302 is responsible for communicating with thewireless network, while the display unit 304 controls the display of anoutput screen, which typically is a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen.The keypad unit 310 is responsible for receiving inputs from the mobiletelephone's keypad.

The mobile telephone 110 communicates with the HBS 104 through the HBSinterface unit 312. The HBS interface unit 312 employs other componentsin its communications with the HBS 104 as necessary. The HBS interfaceunit 312 emits a radio signal indicating the presence of the mobiletelephone 110 to the HBS 104 and receives a communication request fromthe HBS 104. The HBS interface unit 312 also handles the registrationprocedure between the mobile telephone 110 and the HBS 104 and storesthe HBS 104 identification information in the storage unit 316. Themobile telephone 110 establishes communications with a HBS 104 only ifthe HBS′ 104 identification matches the one stored in the storage unit316.

In an alternative embodiment, a mobile telephone 110 can register withmore than one HBS 104 and a HBS 104 can also register more than onemobile telephone 110.

Generally, the mobile telephone 110 operates in the registration modeand the communication mode, and the mobile telephone 110 may switchbetween these two modes. While operating in the registration mode, themobile telephone 110 can register itself with a HBS 104 and receiveregistration information from the HBS 104. While in the communicationmode, the mobile telephone 110 can receive and place a call to and froma wireless telephone network, and the call can be initiated by eitherthe mobile telephone 110 or a telephone device connected to the HBS 104.

Similarly, the HBS 104 also operates in the registration mode and thecommunication mode. When in the registration mode, the HBS 104 canregister a mobile telephone 110 and send its information to the mobiletelephone 110. When in the communication mode, the HBS 104 can receiveand place a call to and from a wireless telephone network, and the callcan be initiated by either the mobile telephone 110 or a telephonedevice connected to the HBS 104.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mobile telephone 110and the HBS 104 may operate in other modes, such as maintenance mode,set up mode, etc.

FIGS. 4-5 describe the operation of the registration mode for the mobiletelephone 110 and the HBS 104.

FIGS. 6-12 describe different operations in the communication mode forthe mobile telephone 110 and the HBS 104.

FIG. 4 depicts a registration process 400 for the HBS 104. The HBS 104can enter the registration mode in different ways. For example, the HBS104 may activate the registration process in response to the userpressing a registration button or in response to other commands. Oncethe HBS 104 enters the registration mode, it checks whether a mobiletelephone is within its coverage area, block 402. The HBS 104 detectsthe presence of a mobile telephone 110 by detecting radio signalsemitted by the mobile telephone 110. If a mobile telephone 110 is withinits coverage area, the HBS 104 receives the mobile telephone'sregistration information, block 404, which is embedded in the radiosignals, and stores it, block 406. The HBS 104 then sends itsinformation, which may include its identification information, to themobile telephone, block 408.

FIG. 5 depicts a registration process 500 for a mobile telephone 110.The mobile telephone 110 enters the registration mode when theregistration feature is activated by a user. After the user activatesthe registration feature, for example, by pressing the featureactivation button on the mobile telephone 110, the mobile telephone 110sends out a signal with its registration information, block 502, whichhas the mobile telephone's identification information. After sending outits registration information, the mobile telephone 110 waits to receivethe HBS information. The HBS information may include the identificationnumber for the HBS 104 and/or other identification information. Afterthe HBS information is received, block 504, the mobile telephone 110stores the HBS information in its storage unit 316.

A mobile telephone 110 can be registered with a HBS 104 and subsequentlycan move away from the HBS′ coverage area. The removal will not erasethe registration information and the mobile telephone 110 canreestablish the connection, without the need for registration, with theHBS 104 once it returns to the HBS′ coverage area. The mobile telephonecan de-register itself with a HBS by deleting the stored HBS informationfrom the storage unit 316. The HBS 104 can similarly de-register itselfby removing the mobile telephone identification information from its RRU214. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other ways to implementthe registration and de-registration procedures between a mobiletelephone 110 and a HBS 104.

After the mobile telephone 110 is removed from the coverage area of theHBS 104, the mobile telephone 110 enters a search mode and transmits aradio signal with its identification information, and the HBS 104 entersa detect mode and analyzes radio signals for mobile telephoneidentification. The HBS 104 exits the detect mode when it finds a mobiletelephone identification for a registered mobile telephone 110, and themobile telephone 110 exits from the search mode when it receives arequest to establish communications.

In an alternative embodiment, where the HBS supports more than onemobile telephone, the HBS 104 continues in detect mode until all mobiletelephones have been registered.

After the mobile telephone 110 and the HBS 104 are identified with eachother, they exit from the registration mode and proceed to establishcommunications in the communication mode.

In an alternative embodiment, a mobile telephone 110 can register withmultiple HBS′ 104 and, conversely, a HBS 104 can also communicate withmultiple mobile telephones 110.

FIG. 6 depicts a detection process 600 for a HBS 104 to establishconnections with a mobile telephone 110. This process 600 starts when nomobile telephone is in the HBS coverage area or the HBS is manuallyactivated. The HBS 104 checks whether a mobile telephone is within itscoverage area, block 602, by constantly receiving and analyzing radiosignals, and if there is no mobile telephone 110 in its coverage area,the HBS 104 repeats the process of capturing and analyzing radiosignals.

If a mobile telephone 110 is within the coverage area, the HBS 104proceeds to receive the mobile telephone's identification information,which is preferably embedded in the radio signals emitted by the mobiletelephone, block 604. The mobile telephone 110 constantly emits radiosignals either indicating its presence or maintaining contact with theHBS 104. The extracted mobile telephone identification information iscompared with the mobile telephone information stored by the RRU 214,block 606, and, if they do not match, the mobile telephone 110 is notregistered with the HBS 104 and the HBS 104 goes back to the step ofcapturing and analyzing radio signals.

If the mobile telephone identification from the radio signals matchesthe mobile telephone information from RRU 214, the mobile telephone 110is registered with the HBS 104, and the HBS 104 proceeds to establishcommunications with the mobile telephone 110, block 608. Afterestablishing communications with the mobile telephone 110, the HBS 104enables dial tones to the telephone devices, and the telephone devicesare ready to place or to receive a call like a traditional wireline orlandline telephone. HBS can also plug into a premises with existingwireline connections for corded and cordless phones with dial tone.

FIG. 7 depicts a search mode process 700 for a mobile telephone 110.While the mobile telephone 110 is sending out its identificationinformation, it is also checking for attempts to establishcommunications, block 702. If the mobile telephone 110 detects a requestto establish communications, the mobile telephone 110 retrieves theidentity of the HBS 104 making the request, block 704 and checks whetherthe HBS 104 is a registered HBS, block 706. If the HBS 104 is not aregistered HBS, i.e., the identification retrieved does not match theHBS identification information stored in the storage unit 316, then themobile telephone 110 drops the request and returns to monitoringrequests, block 702. If the HBS 104 is a registered HBS, the mobiletelephone 110 establishes communications with the HBS 104.

FIG. 8 illustrates a HBS process 800 for receiving an incoming call. Anincoming call is first received by the mobile telephone 110, which sendsa message to the HBS 104 indicating there is an incoming call. The HBS104 receives the incoming call indication, block 802, and checks if anytelephone device is available, block 803. A telephone device may not beavailable for answering an incoming call for two reasons: it is alreadyon a call with a remote party, or it is on a call with another telephonedevice in the intercom mode. A telephone device may be on a call with aremote party, if the HBS supports more than one mobile telephone.

If there is no telephone device available for answering the incomingcall, the HBS starts to monitor whether the call has been answered,block 808.

If there is one or more telephone devices available for answering theincoming call, the HBS rings the telephone devices, block 804. Thesetelephone devices will ring at the same time the mobile telephone 110 isringing.

The HBS 104 will also send the mobile telephone's identification to thetelephone devices, block 806. For an embodiment that supports multiplemobile telephones, the mobile telephone's identification displayed onthe telephone devices tells a user from which mobile telephone theincoming call is coming. The display of mobile telephone identificationis in addition to caller identification normally displayed by thetelephone devices if the user subscribes to a caller identificationservice.

In an alternative embodiment, the identification of the mobile telephonecarrying the incoming call may be through a distinctive ringing tone. Inthis embodiment, each mobile telephone is associated with a distinctiveringing tone.

The HBS 104 monitors whether the call has been answered, block 808. Ifthe call is answered, the HBS 104 checks whether the call is answered bythe mobile telephone, block 810. A call is answered by the mobiletelephone 110, if the HBS 104 receives a message from the mobiletelephone 110 indicating the call has been answered. If the call is notanswered by the mobile telephone but rather by a telephone device, theHBS 104 sends an “answered” message to the mobile telephone 110, block812, and stops the telephone device bells from ringing, block 814. Afterthe call is answered, the HBS 104 establishes an audio connectionbetween the HBS 104 and the mobile telephone 110 and monitors thecommunication, block 816.

While the user is communicating using the telephone device, the HBSconstantly determines whether the communication with the mobiletelephone is fading, i.e., whether the strength of the radio signal fromthe mobile telephone is decreasing, block 818. If the signal fadesbeyond a threshold level, the HBS terminates the call, block 820 becausethe mobile telephone 110 has moved out of the HBS 104 coverage area.When the HBS 104 can no longer send and receive messages to and from themobile telephone 110, it means the HBS 104 can no longer receive audiomessages from the mobile telephone 110. Therefore, the HBS 104terminates the call.

The HBS also monitors whether the call has ended, block 822. If the callhas not ended nor has the communications faded, the HBS continues tomonitor these two conditions. If the call has ended, the HBS 104 sends a“hang-up” message to mobile telephone, block 824.

Back to block 810, if the call is answered by the mobile telephone 110because an “answered” message is received from the mobile telephone 110,the HBS 104 stops the telephone device bells from ringing, block 830.After the call is answered, the HBS 104 establishes an audio connectionbetween the HBS 104 and the mobile telephone 110 and monitors thecommunication, block 832.

In an alternative embodiment, if the call is answered by the mobiletelephone, the HBS can disable communication with the telephone devicesto provide privacy for the mobile telephone user. In yet anotherembodiment, the telephone devices may be enabled to communicate with themobile telephone through the HBS.

The HBS constantly determines whether the communication with the mobiletelephone is fading, block 834. If the signal fades beyond a thresholdlevel, the HBS stops monitoring the communication, block 836. The signalfading beyond a threshold level means that the mobile telephone 110 ismoving out of the HBS 104 coverage area. Since the call was answered bythe mobile telephone 110 and the mobile telephone is moving out of theHBS 110 coverage area, there is no need for the HBS to continuemonitoring the communication. The HBS 110 just returns to its searchmode.

The HBS also monitors whether the call has ended, block 838. If the callhas not ended nor has the communications faded, the HBS continues tomonitor these two conditions. If the call has ended because a “hang-up”message is received from the mobile telephone 110, the HBS 104 stopsmonitoring the communication, block 836.

FIG. 9 depicts a mobile telephone process 900 for receiving an incomingcall. When the mobile telephone 110 receives a call, block 902, it sendsan “incoming call” message to the HBS 104, block 904. The mobiletelephone continuously checks whether the call has been answered, block906. When the call is answered, the mobile telephone 110 checks whetherthe call is answered by the mobile telephone 110, block 908.

If the call is not answered by the mobile telephone 110, i.e., it isanswered by a telephone device connected to the HBS 104, the HBS 104sends an “answered” message to the mobile telephone 110. Upon receipt ofthe “answered” message, the mobile telephone 110 answers the call, block910, establishes an audio connection to the HBS 104, and monitors thecall, block 912. The mobile telephone can also participate in the call.The call monitoring essentially entails checking whether the radiosignal from the HBS is fading, block 914, and whether the call hasended, block 916. If the radio signal from the HBS is fading because themobile telephone is physically moved away from the HBS, the mobiletelephone terminates the call, block 918. If the radio signal from theHBS is fading when the call is answered by a telephone device connectedto the HBS, it means that the mobile telephone is being removed from theHBS′ coverage area. The mobile telephone terminates the call in thissituation to restore the mobile telephone to its original state as anindependent and detached communication device.

If the call has ended, i.e., the mobile telephone receives a “hang-up”message from the HBS, then the mobile telephone terminates the call,block 918.

Now back to block 908, if the call is answered by the mobile telephone110, the mobile telephone sends an “answered” message to the HBS 104indicating the call has been answered, block 920. The mobile telephone110 also establishes an audio connection with the HBS 104 and monitorsthe call, block 921. The audio connection to the HBS is established sothat another user may pick up a telephone device connected to the HBSand participate in the conversation.

If the mobile telephone 110 detects that communication with the HBS isfading, i.e., the radio signal strength from the HBS is weakening, themobile telephone 110 continues to monitor whether the user at the mobiletelephone has ended the call, block 928. If the user hangs up, themobile telephone 110 terminates the call, block 918.

If the communications between the mobile telephone 110 and the HBS 104is not fading and the mobile telephone detects the call has ended, block924, the mobile telephone 110 sends a “hang-up” message to the HBSindicating the call is terminated, block 926. The mobile telephone 110also terminates the call, block 918.

FIG. 10 illustrates a HBS process 1000 for placing an outgoing telephonecall. The process starts when the HBS detects a user picking up atelephone device connected to the HBS, block 1002, and stops the dialtone for a wired telephone after the first digit is entered, block 1004.The HBS receives the telephone number (the dialed digits), block 1006,and analyzes the telephone number, block 1008. The HBS analyzes thetelephone number entered by the user in order to determine whether theuser has finished entering the telephone number. The HBS is equippedwith circuitry that can determine whether a user has finished dialing atelephone number.

In an alternative embodiment, the HBS need not analyze the telephonenumber entered, if the telephone devices connected to the HBS areequipped with a “send” button. A user can press the “send” button afterentering a destination telephone number, and the “send” button indicatesto the HBS that the user has finished entering the telephone number.

After a user finishes entering the destination telephone number, the HBSsends the destination telephone number to the mobile telephone, block1010, which in turn sends the telephone number out to the wirelesstelephone network, as is well known to those skilled in the art. The HBSproceeds to establish an audio connection between the mobile telephoneand the HBS monitors the call, block 1012.

The HBS checks whether the communications with the mobile telephone isfading, block 1014, and whether the call has ended, block 1016. If theradio signal from the mobile telephone is fading, the HBS proceeds toterminate the call, block 1020. If the communication is not fading, butthe call has ended, the HBS sends a “hang-up” message to the mobiletelephone, block 1018.

In another embodiment, the HBS can select between two or more availablemobile telephones to establish communication. Selection criteria mayinclude strongest radio signal strength, history for remaining withinthe HBS coverage area (mobility history), history of the quality ofconnections to the HBS, user preference, and the like. If a mobiletelephone has a history of leaving frequently the HBS coverage area, theHBS may not want to select this mobile telephone when there is anothermobile telephone available. If a mobile telephone has a history ofproviding lower quality of connection to the HBS, this mobile telephonemay not be a good candidate when the HBS is selecting a mobile telephonefor carrying out an outgoing communication. The HBS may selectautomatically one mobile telephone for communication with the wirelesstelecommunications network according to an internal logic according to apredefined criteria. The HBS may also allow the user to determine whichmobile telephone to use by providing a mobile telephone selector, whichmay be an interface screen displayed on the HBS's user interface screen.The HBS may also provide the selection through a plurality of buttons onthe HBS, wherein each button is associated with one mobile telephone.

FIG. 11 illustrates a mobile telephone process 1100 for placing anoutgoing call. An outgoing call starts when a telephone number isentered on the mobile telephone or received from the HBS. The mobiletelephone 110 checks whether the telephone number is received from theHBS, block 1102. If the telephone number is received from the mobiletelephone 110, the mobile telephone 110 sends the telephone number tothe wireless network and requests a connection to the destinationtelephone, block 1114. The connection is handled through a MobileSwitching Center (MSC).

The mobile telephone also establishes an audio connection to the HBS sothat the telephone devices can be enabled and monitors the call, block1116. The mobile telephone 110 checks whether the radio signal from theHBS 104 is fading, block 1118, and whether the call has ended, block1120. If the mobile telephone 110 detects the radio signal from the HBSis fading, it then continues to check whether the call has ended, block1122. After the call has ended, i.e., the user hangs up the mobiletelephone, the mobile telephone terminates the call, block 1112. If theradio signal is not fading but the user has ended the call, the mobiletelephone proceeds to terminate the call, block 1112.

Back to block 1102, if the telephone number is from the HBS 104, themobile telephone 110 sends the telephone number to the wireless networkand requests a connection to the destination telephone, block 1104. Themobile telephone also establishes an audio connection to the HBS andmonitors the call, block 1106. The mobile telephone 110 checks whetherthe radio signal from the HBS 104 is fading, block 1108, and whether thecall has ended, block 1110.

If the communication between the mobile telephone 110 and the HBS 104 isfading, then the mobile telephone terminates the call, block 1112. Ifthe communications are not fading, but the call ends because a “hang-up”is received from the HBS, then the mobile telephone 104 terminates thecall, block 1112.

FIG. 12 illustrates a HBS process 1200 for handling privacy requests.The HBS can provide privacy to a user who is in communication with aremote party, and the HBS can prevent a third party from listening tothe communication by picking up a telephone device connected to the HBS.

A user may request privacy while a communication is established with aremote party. The user may make a privacy request by pressing a specialprivacy request button on a mobile telephone or a telephone device. Theuser may also request privacy by pressing a special sequence of buttonscurrently available on the mobile telephone and the telephone devices.For example, the user may press “**” to request for privacy. If the useris using the mobile telephone, then the mobile telephone's controller314 will understand that “**” is a privacy request to be sent to theHBS. If the user is using a telephone device, “**” is received andinterpreted by the HBS.

The process 1200 starts after a privacy request message is received fromthe mobile telephone or a special sequence of digits are received from atelephone device, block 1202. The HBS checks whether the privacy requestis from the mobile telephone, block 1204, and if so, the HBS will blockor disable audio connections to all telephone devices connected to it,block 1206, for the duration of the call.

If the privacy request is from a telephone device, the HBS determineswhich telephone device made the privacy request, block 1208. Afterdetermining the telephone device that made the privacy request, the HBSblocks or disables the audio connections to other telephone devicesconnected to the HBS for the duration of the call, block 1210. The HBSalso sends a privacy request message to the mobile telephone, block1212, and the mobile telephone will disable its audio input and outputunits for the duration of the call. The mobile telephone continues toact as a communication medium for the HBS while its speaker andmicrophone are disabled.

In operation, the HBS 104 provides expanded services to a user of amobile telephone 110. The following is a description of one usescenarios for the HBS used in a home environment and connected to cordedas well as cordless telephone devices. While the user is away from homewith his mobile telephone, the HBS 104 does not provide dial tones tothe telephone devices at home, if the user's mobile telephone is theonly mobile telephone registered with the HBS or the telephone devicesare not connected to a local wireline telephone service provider.

Before using the HBS, the user needs to register his mobile telephonewith the HBS. In one embodiment, the registration procedure is activatedby making the HBS and the mobile telephone enter the registration mode.While in the registration mode, the mobile telephone sends itsidentification information with a predefined radio signal, at the sametime monitoring for the HBS identification information. The HBS searchesfor the predefined radio signal and extracts it from the mobiletelephone's identification information. After storing the mobiletelephone's identification information, the HBS sends its ownidentification to the mobile telephone. The mobile telephone receivesthe HBS′ identification and stores it. The HBS and the mobile telephonewill provide an indication when they are done with the registrationprocedure. The identification information stored during the registrationprocedure is not erased when the mobile telephone is removed from theHBS′ coverage area.

When the user arrives home with his mobile telephone, the HBSsenses/detects the presence of the mobile telephone within its coveragearea and sends a request to establish the connection with the mobiletelephone. The mobile telephone receives the request and checks the HBS′identification against the stored information. If the HBS identificationmatches the stored information, the mobile telephone accepts the requestand the communication between the mobile telephone and the HBS is thenestablished. Subsequently, if needed, the HBS starts to provide the dialtones to the telephone devices connected to it.

If the user leaves his mobile telephone inside his car in the garage andthere is an incoming call to his mobile telephone, the mobile telephonesends an “incoming call” message to the HBS. The “incoming call” messagealerts the HBS about the incoming call, and the HBS checks which mobiletelephone has received the call. The HBS also proceeds to check whetherthere is any telephone device available for answering the incoming call.If there are two telephone devices connected to the HBS and they arecommunicating with each other in the intercom mode, then there is notelephone device available for answering the call. Although there is notelephone device available for answering the incoming call, the incomingcall can still be answered by the mobile telephone.

If there are unused telephone devices, the HBS sends the mobiletelephone's identification information to these telephone devices andalso rings these telephone devices. The identification of the mobiletelephone is important, because the HBS may have two mobile telephonesregistered: one for the husband and one for the wife. If the call isfrom the wife's mobile telephone, the husband may not want to answer it.Different ringing tones can be used to distinguish the mobile telephonereceiving the call.

After the user picks up any telephone device inside the home to answerthe call, the HBS stops the telephone device bells from ringing andsends an “answered” message to the mobile telephone. After receiving the“answered” message, the mobile telephone establishes an audio path tothe HBS and answers the call.

While the user is on the call, the user may request privacy as toprevent another person from listening to his conversation from anothertelephone device located in a different room. The user can press, forexample, “*#” to send the privacy request to the HBS. Upon receiving theprivacy request, the HBS determines which telephone device originatedthe privacy request and disables the audio connections to othertelephone devices. The HBS also sends a privacy request to the mobiletelephone. When the mobile telephone receives the privacy request, themobile telephone disables its speaker and microphone, so that no one canuse the mobile telephone to listen to the conversation.

The disabling of other telephone devices and the disabling of thespeaker and the microphone of the mobile telephone are limited to thecurrent call, and after the call has ended the communication to all thetelephone devices are restored and the mobile telephone is restored aswell.

After the user hangs up the telephone device at the end of call, the HBSsends a “hang up” message to the mobile telephone, and the mobiletelephone then proceeds to terminate the call.

In an alternative embodiment, the HBS can include one or more dockingstations to dock one or more mobile telephones. A docking station isequipped with a battery charger and provides physical connection betweenthe mobile telephones and the HBS's MTIU. The docking station may be aphysically integrated to the HBS or separated from the HBS but connectedthrough cables. When a mobile telephone is docked at the dockingstation, the mobile telephone may communicate with the HBS through wiredconnections instead of wireless transmissions. While the mobiletelephone is docked at the docking station, the docking stationrecharges the mobile telephone's battery through its battery charger.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate other features normally offeredin a telephone system, such as call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail, three way conference, caller identification, repeat dialing, callreturn, etc., can easily be incorporated in different embodiments of thepresent invention without diverting from the spirit and the scope of thepresent invention.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention hasbeen presented only for the purpose of illustration and description andis not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching.

The foregoing embodiments were chosen and described in order to explainthe principles of the invention and their practical applications and toenable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and variousembodiments, including various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

1. A system for providing communication services through a mobiletelecommunications network, the system comprising: at least one mobiletelephone in communication with the mobile telecommunications network; ahome base station having a mobile telephone interface unit forcommunication with mobile telephones and a mobile telephone registrationunit, the home base station being capable of detecting the presence ofthe at least one mobile telephone in its coverage area and the mobiletelephone registration unit being capable of storing informationidentifying the at least one mobile telephone; and at least onetelephone device in communication with the home base station. 2-48.(canceled)